Investors worry over BP’s £30bn debt pile

BP’s debt has risen to an astonishing £30bn as it continues to pay fines over the Deepwater Horizon scandal.

Debt at the oil giant has climbed from £23.4bn one year ago with a further £262m paid out over the disaster this year.

The company’s ratio of debt to market value is now 28.8pc – but chief financial officer Brian Gilvary said he was not worried.

‘We expect this debt will improve over the second half as these payments decline and divestment proceeds come in towards the end of the year,’ he added.

Shares were up 2.4pc, or 10.65p, to 456.45p, yesterday as the firm posted secondquarter profit of £571m.

That was down from £544m during the same period last year but beat expectations and came despite oil prices hovering around $50 per barrel. It has also written down £570m after getting out of a risky exploration project in Angola.

Bosses reiterated forecasts that they should be able to cope with oil prices below $40 barrel within the next five years.

Chief executive Bob Dudley said he expected global demand for oil to increase by 1.5m barrels of oil per day this year.